EthnoVault 1,200+ traditions

Indigenous-led · Community governed

The archive that
listens.

A living home for the songs, stories, plant wisdom and craft of Indigenous peoples — kept in their own voices, in their own languages, on their own terms.

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AN TK MJ +121

124 knowledge keepers across 38 communities · 4 continents

Green northern lights dancing above a snow-covered forest
Featured field recording 03:12

Sámi · Oral Folklore

The northern lights are the ancestors' campfires

“Guovssahas are not weather. They are our people, walking the sky — and the old songs teach us when to look, and when to lower our eyes.”

Áilu Niillas · joikNorthern Sámi

+12 this month

0

Stories Preserved

in 38 living languages

9 newly recorded

0

Endangered Dialects

with fluent speaker review

+6 this season

0

Indigenous Contributors

paid, credited, consenting

always

0%

Attribution Secured

free, prior & informed consent

Live archive metrics · updated by the community

The heritage atlas

Every marker holds a way of knowing.

Ten landscapes, one living archive. Choose a marker to travel the collection by region — then listen where the story leads.

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10 regions 12 records Community mapped

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Living knowledge, not artefacts.

Every record is shared with free, prior and informed consent. What you can hear here is only what the community chose to make public.

11 records

Some records are held privately and are not listed here. Communities can withdraw any record, at any time.

Listen & translate

Hear it as it was meant to be heard.

Move between the original voice and a community-approved English translation. Pronunciation, cadence and silence are part of the record.

Simulated field audio Elder approved transcript
Northern Sámi Oral Folklore

Sámi Northern Lights Folklore

Sápmi, Arctic Lapland · with Áilu Niillas

0:00 3:12

Paused

Transcript Northern Sámi

Demo experience: audio is simulated and transcripts are illustrative. Real records carry community-approved translations and attribution.

Our promise

Knowledge belongs to its keepers.

EthnoVault is not a museum. It is a set of agreements — with elders, linguists and families — about what may be recorded, who may listen, and how a story should travel.

  • Consent before collection

    Free, prior and informed consent is documented for every single record — and can be withdrawn.

  • Community owns the record

    Attribution and licensing stay with the originating community. We are guests, not owners.

  • Living, never frozen

    Records are updated as language and practice evolve. A living archive listens back.